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Fast food prices have been unhistorically low for a few decades, due to a combination of increasing worker productivity and suppressed demand due to the great r
by rhelz 3y ago
Fast food prices have been unhistorically low for a few decades, due to a combination of increasing worker productivity and suppressed demand due to the great recession.
Three bean burritos at Taco bell costs $1.89 where I lived from 1992 through about 2011. Far, far cheaper than I could make bean burritos myself, especially as a single man cooking for one. It was a godsend while I was a starving grad student, but lets face it, that can only go on so long.
When I was growing up, going to McDonalds was a rare treat. Now it is once again.
- gruez 3y ago> Fast food prices have been unhistorically low for a few decades, due to a combination of increasing worker productivity and suppressed demand due to the great recession. This does not seem to be borne by the data. Looking at BLS's CPI data, we see that the "Limited service meals and snacks" category went up by 30% since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile the CPI as a whole only went up 20%, and "food at home" went up by 27%.
- rhelz 3y agoHmmmm…….if I understand correctly, fast food prices have increased faster than general CPI? This could be explainable by fast food prices returning to historical norms, after being abnormally low, no?
- rexpop 3y ago> cheaper than I could make... as a single man cooking for one I don't understand. Why should economies of scale ever expire?
- rhelz 3y agoThere have been substantial wage increases, in a rather tight labor market. Both of these factors would conspire to limit scalability: if you can’t find more workers or if they are too expensive, you can’t scale.